Banks Commence Issuing of Old N500, N1,000 Notes to Customers

Some commercial banks across the country have started paying out the old N500 and N1,000 notes to customers.

The development is a follow up to the Supreme Court judgment extending the validity of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s currency redesign policy to December 31

Guaranty Trust Bank, Polaris Bank led a list of commercial banks that issued old naira notes to customers on Monday in Abuja and Kano.

A banker told Daily Trust was that the decision to issue the old naira notes is based on a directive their management.

“The problem is that taking the old notes from customers will require the CBN form as we don’t have any directive in that regard,” the staff added.

Neither has the CBN issued a bank-wide circular instructing Deposit money banks to comply with the apex court’s judgment, nor as the presidency reacted to the ruling.

Daily Report Nigeria recalls that a 7-member panel of justices presided over by Justice Inyang Okoro, on Friday, voided the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the CBN for the redesigning and withdrawal of old notes of N200, N500 and N1,000, without consultation with the states, the Federal Executive Council and the National Council of State and other stakeholders, was unconstitutional.

The apex court observed that no reasonable notice was given before the implementation of the policy as provided under the CBN Act.